Skylights or sky windows have often been used to illuminate the interior of buildings. Most skylights are passive devices that act as windows relying completely on natural daylight for illuminations. Some skylights have combined the benefits of natural lighting with artificial lighting. One such skylight is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,471 entitled “Skylight And Lamp Combination” issuing to Green on Jun. 18, 1996. Therein disclosed is a skylight and lamp combination for providing natural and artificial light to a room. A plurality of lamp fixtures is disposed within the housing of the skylight for emitting artificial light to the bottom end of the housing. The lamp fixtures are disclosed as being fluorescent light fixtures or incandescent light fixtures of conventional design. A retractable shade is also disclosed. For daytime darkening, the shade or blind is rolled over and the fluorescent lights are used alone or not depending on the shading needed during the day. Another skylight using artificial and natural lighting is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,057,821 entitled “Integrated Artificial and Natural Lighting System” issuing to Zincone on Jun. 6, 2006. Therein disclosed is a substantially self-contained and powered artificial and natural lighting system. Sensors detect illumination intensity to control the balance of natural and artificial light to maintain a predetermined illumination intensity.
While most skylights incorporating lamps or artificial lighting extend the practicality of skylights and their use for providing light when natural light is not available, they are often not as efficient as possible. Often the artificial light may be placed or positioned in a way that compromises the efficiency of the natural light or that provides artificial lighting that his harsh or substantially different than the natural lighting.
Additionally, skylights having deep wells are often thermally inefficient with substantial loss or gain of heat. Also, the installation of a skylight is often complicated and after installation is prone to leaking. Often special curbing or flashing is required to be manufactured on site adding to the time and cost of installation.
Therefore, there is a need for a more efficient skylight providing a natural and artificial lighting system that is easily installed, is energy efficient, and provides uniform lighting such that there is no perceived difference between the natural lighting and the artificial lighting.